Alayne's Tiesen Lap

There are any number of Tiesen Lap recipes; just like Bara Brith - there are as many recipes as there are families in Wales!  This recipe comes from a book my cousin inherited from our Grandmother.  The original was a little dry for my taste so I’ve tweaked it a few times to make it even better!  It reminds me very much of a big Welsh Cake.

For the past several months I've been using duck eggs almost exclusively for baking and they really do make a huge difference.  My friend tells me that it's the fat content in the yolk - whatever it is, it's well worth looking for them to try, if only once or twice.

Grease and line an 8” diameter cake tin (approx. 20cm)

You will need :

220g self raising flour

1tsp mixed spice

60g each butter and lard, cut into small pieces

90g caster sugar

120g mixed fruit (sultanas and raisins)

2 large eggs

150ml milk

Caster sugar for dredging

Combine the flour, spice, sugar and fats in a mixing bowl and beat together to form a breadcrumb consistency.  Add the dried fruit, then the eggs and the milk and bring together to form a good thick batter.

Turn into the lined cake tin and bake in a medium oven for 35-45 minutes – until a skewer comes out clean.  I cooked mine at 180^oC (350^oF / gas mark 4) for 45 minutes.

If you use a springform tin and cake tin cases, you can loosen the tin as soon as the cake comes out of the oven, loosen the paper slightly and dredge the still hot cake with caster sugar.  Leave to cool completely before slicing and serving with a nice cup of tea!

Broccoli, Leek & Stilton Gratin

This is another dish to use up the leftover Christmas Stilton!  You could use any cheese you have to hand though. 

The cheese sauce is based on my Grandmother’s recipe (such as it was) and method – i.e. some milk, some flour, some butter and some cheese!  I’ve attempted to quantify it for you though!! 

The recipe for two as a side, or one as a main dish with some ham or bacon as a side is: 

1 head of broccoli

1 small leek

1oz butter 

½ pint of cold milk

1oz butter

1tb flour

1 or 2oz of cheese (to taste)

Salt and pepper to taste

Prepare the broccoli by cutting into florets and cook in boiling water, then leave to drain. 

While the broccoli is draining, slice the leek and sweat gently in the melted butter for appx 10 minutes.

 

When the leek is softened arrange on the base of a gratin dish (or shallow oven proof dish).  Arrange the broccoli on the top of the bed of leeks. 

Make the cheese sauce by adding the cold milk, butter and flour to the cooled pan.  Turn on the heat and cook, stirring continuously until the sauce thickens (I use a small hand held wire whisk for this).  Providing the milk was cold you won’t have any problems with lumps in the sauce.  Season to taste, take off the heat and then add the cheese. 

Pour the sauce over the broccoli.  You could add a little grated cheese at this point if you wish, and a sprinkling of cayenne pepper. 

Pop under the grill until the cheese sauce is bubbling.

Grampa's Creamed Cheese

I love this!  My Grandfather used to make it for me when I was a little girl, it was always a real treat!  I often make it today – as a light lunch, or tea.  I usually make it on toast, but I only had muffins in the house today so they had to do instead! 

It’s very quick to make, and can be done in the time it takes to toast the bread, or muffins.  Have everything ready before you start! 

Per person : 

• 2 eggs, beaten with half a teaspoon of English mustard powder (or made mustard) and a pinch of cayenne pepper. 
• 2 or 3 oz of grated cheese – I prefer it with strong cheddar 
• Small knob of butter
• Salt and pepper to taste 

• 2 slices of bread, or one English muffin halved

Toast the bread/muffin 

Melt the butter in a small pan and add the eggs, swirling them around.  As they begin to set stir with a wooden spoon to scramble them and add the cheese.  Stir until the cheese is melted and season to taste. 

Spoon onto the toast/muffins and eat hot! 

Grandma's Sea Pie

This recipe is the beef version of something my Grandmother used to make when I was a child with leftover lamb.   For some obscure reason, which I have never got to the bottom of, it was called Sea Pie.   

This is one of my absolute favourite dishes, and my regular way of using up leftover cooked meat.  I have recently started making it with beef as my hubby doesn’t like lamb very much.  I love this dish so much that I always cook more meat than I need, just so that I can make this with the leftovers.   

Quantities will vary depending on how many people you want to feed, and indeed how much leftover cooked lamb or beef you have but what I used for one person was:

1 quantity of cooked leftover beef (this particular leftover was frozen from a brisket pot roast I made a few weeks ago)

1 medium potato, peeled and cut into quite thin slices

1 large onion, peeled and cut into slices

A sprig of rosemary washed and chopped finely (you could use thyme if you prefer)

Salt and pepper to taste

1tb flour

½ pint or so of beef stock (if you are using leftover lamb, use lamb stock)

Cut the leftover beef into strips or small chunks and toss in the seasoned flour.  Place in layers in your casserole dish as follows : meat, onion, rosemary, potatoes, season, meat, onion, rosemary, then toss in the dregs of any leftover flour and then pour over the stock, you want enough stock to come two thirds of the way up the dish.  Finally add the top layer of potato slices and cover either with a lid or with foil.

Bake at 180^oC for an hour, uncovering for the final 15 minutes so that the top layer of potatoes can brown.

Just like Grandma used to make!

We’ve been away in London for most of this week, Hubby was seeing a client for a few days’ training and I went along to keep him company.  Ahh, the blessings of being a full-time housewife!

I don’t know if it was because we’ve been away, or because it’s been quite cold over the last few days, but I woke up this morning with a real fancying for proper Welsh cawl.  When I was a child this was my favourite dinner; my grandparents lived in the same street as us and my grandmother, with whom I was incredibly close, used to make it quite often.  Hers was the best!  My mother used to make it from time to time as well, but hers was never quite as nice as my grandmother’s.

Well, today I cracked it!  I’ve been making it for 20+ years, but today’s batch was the closest I’ve ever gotten to my grandmother’s. 

After shopping for all the bits and pieces I needed, I worked out that it had cost no more than £3.62 for the meat and the veg.  Add on a couple of coppers for the stock cube and the flour and suet for the dumplings and you can see it really is a cheap meal!

It doesn’t take a lot of preparation, but it does need a good 2 or 3 hours in a very low oven.  I left mine for 3 so that it got good and thick.

Quantities will vary, depending on your pot size and how many people you want to feed – and are never fixed in stone anyway (!), but this was what I used : 

3 nice big carrots, peeled and cut into rough biggish chunks, rustic style

2 small and one biggish parsnip, peeled and cut into rough biggish chunks

about the same quantity of swede, again peeled and cut into biggish pieces

1 medium sized potato, again peeled and cut into biggish pieces

1 large leek, cut into big rings

Appx 1½ lb of diced casserole beef (skirt, shin, clod – whatever)

1 stock cube

Pour about 1tb of olive oil into a casserole and add the diced beef, stirring around to brown.  Remove to a dish and add the prepared carrot, parsnip and swede, turn the heat down as low as it will go and toss the veg around the pan for a few minutes to lightly brown them.  Return the meat and any drippings in the dish to the pan, add 1tb of flour and stir well into the contents of the pan.  Add as much hot water as is needed to cover all the vegetables and meat and then season to taste, add a stock cube and the leek and potato.  Cover and pop in a low oven for 3 hours.  I cooked mine at 130^o.  Towards the end of the cooking time you can make the dumpling mix – I used 2tb flour, same of suet and a pinch of salt, adding enough water to make a very thick mixture.  Spoon tablespoonfuls into the pan and pop back in the oven for half an hour. 

Best served to a cold and hungry husband on a cold, wet and windy day!.